JP5276903B2 - Browsing system, plug-in program, and introduction program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is directed to a browsing system suitable for facilitating application of a web service desired by a user to text included in a web document being browsed by a browser, and making it easier for a user to confirm the result. The present invention relates to a plug-in program that is executed in the above, and an introduction program for realizing an introduction device that cooperates with the plug-in program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a WWW (World Wide Web) system for browsing a document placed on the Internet from a user terminal device has been provided. Such an application for browsing a web document is called a browser, and various browsers have been proposed by various companies.

  Some services available via a browser translate a web document created in a foreign language into the user's native language. For example, in a certain system, a URL (Universal Resource Locater) of a web document that a user desires to translate is notified to the translation server using a CGI (Common Gateway Interface), and the translation server obtains the web document. The translation is performed and the translated document is provided to the user's browser for display.

In this way, texts specified by the user, such as various translations, dictionary searches, dictionary searches, product searches, map searches, etc. are set as processing target data, and predetermined processing is performed on the data, and the results are processed. Various web services provided to the user are provided as result data, and related techniques are disclosed in the following documents.
Japanese Patent No. 3422897 Zhou Anping, Kumiko Tanaka “Omniget: Browser in the browser that presents third-party information” The 14th Annual Conference of the Processing Society of Language Processing, p.717-720

  Here, in [Patent Document 1], a character string displayed in the vicinity of the mouse cursor is obtained by hooking a system call of an operating system on which the browser operates, and a translation result of the character string is displayed in a pop-up. Techniques to do this are disclosed.

  [Non-Patent Document 1] considers a case where a user wants to hear a third party who is neither the user nor the web document provider when he / she wants to browse a web document. A technique for presenting the translated text in a pop-up display when the translated text of the web document is provided with the translation service of the above as “third party opinion” is disclosed.

  However, in the method using the pop-up display, since the pop-up display is made in the vicinity of the position where the user pays attention, the original web document is hidden by the pop-up display, and it becomes difficult for the user to view the original web document. Problems arise. In addition, when a plurality of web services can be used as “third-party opinions”, a technique for appropriately presenting information desired by a user while suppressing a communication load is desired.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and makes it easy to apply a web service desired by a user to text included in a web document being browsed by a browser. It is an object of the present invention to provide a browsing system, a plug-in program executed by the browser, and an introduction program for realizing an introduction device that cooperates with the plug-in program, which are suitable for easy confirmation.

  In order to achieve the above object, the following invention is disclosed in accordance with the principle of the present invention.

  The browsing system according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a browsing computer, a plurality of web service devices, and an introduction device, and is configured as follows.

  That is, the browsing computer functions as a URL reception unit, a document acquisition unit, and a display unit by executing a browser program.

  Here, the URL receiving unit receives a URL instruction input for specifying a URL (Universal Resource Locator).

  On the other hand, the document acquisition unit acquires a web document arranged at the URL specified in the received instruction input.

  Further, the display unit draws and displays the web document on the screen based on the DOM (Document Object Model) tree of the acquired web document.

  On the other hand, each of the plurality of web service devices includes a service request reception unit, a service processing unit, and a service response transmission unit.

  Here, the service request receiving unit receives a web service request designating processing target data.

  On the other hand, the service processing unit performs predetermined web service processing on the processing target data specified in the received web service request.

  Further, the service response transmission unit transmits a web service response designating processing result data obtained by performing a predetermined process to the transmission source of the web service request.

  Further, the introduction device includes an introduction request receiving unit, a service selecting unit, and an introduction response transmitting unit.

  Here, the introduction request receiving unit receives an introduction request designating a text.

  On the other hand, the service selection unit selects a web service device that can process the text specified in the received introduction request from the plurality of web service devices.

  Furthermore, the introduction response transmission unit transmits an introduction response designating the selected web service device to the transmission source of the introduction request.

  Then, the browsing computer executes the plug-in program in the environment in which the browser program is executed, so that the position reception unit, the text acquisition unit, the introduction request transmission unit, the introduction response reception unit, the element insertion unit, the display Functions as a control unit.

  Here, the position receiving unit receives a position instruction input for specifying the position of the displayed web document in the document.

  On the other hand, the text acquisition unit acquires the text displayed at the position specified in the received position instruction input in the DOM tree of the displayed web document.

  Further, the introduction request transmission unit transmits an introduction request designating the acquired text to the introduction device.

  Then, the introduction response receiving unit receives the introduction response transmitted from the introduction device.

  On the other hand, the element insertion unit transmits a web service request designating the acquired text as processing target data to the web service device designated in the received introduction response, thereby transmitting the web service from the web service device. An embedding element node in which processing result data specified in the response is to be embedded is inserted in the vicinity of the acquired text in the DOM tree of the displayed web document.

  Further, the display control unit inserts an element node into the DOM tree of the displayed web document or receives a web service response, and embeds processing result data specified in the web service response in the embedding element node. Then, the changed web document is redrawn on the display unit and displayed on the screen.

  Moreover, the browsing system of this invention can be comprised as follows.

That is, in the browsing computer that executes the plug-in program in the environment in which the browser program is executed, the text acquisition unit determines in advance among the element nodes including the position specified in the received position instruction input. The element node of the selected type and the minimum element node is searched from the DOM tree of the displayed web document, and the text of the text node that is a descendant of the searched minimum element node is obtained (1). If not, the text is the resulting text,
(2) If it has been acquired in the past, it is assumed that the text could not be acquired.

  On the other hand, the element insertion unit uses an inline frame element, object element, or script element node as the embedding element node.

  Moreover, the browsing system of this invention can be comprised as follows.

  That is, in the browsing computer that executes the plug-in program in the environment in which the browser program is executed, the predetermined type of element node includes an anchor element node, and the acquired minimum element When the node is an anchor element node, if the text of the text node that is a descendant of the anchor element node has already been acquired in the past, the URL reception unit specifies the URL specified for the anchor element node as a URL instruction. Accept as specified in input.

  Moreover, the browsing system of this invention can be comprised as follows.

  That is, in the introduction device, the service selection unit calculates the fitness for the text specified in the received introduction request of the plurality of web service devices, and the web service device whose fitness is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value When a plurality of the web service devices are selected, the introduction response transmission unit further designates the order of matching calculated for the selected web service device as the introduction response.

  On the other hand, in the browsing computer that executes the plug-in program in the environment in which the browser program is executed, the element insertion unit is specified when a plurality of web service devices are specified in the received introduction response. In addition, among the plurality of web service devices, the embedding element node for the web service device having the maximum conformance level and the inquiry element node for each of the web service devices having the second suitability level or lower are displayed. Is inserted in the vicinity of the acquired text in the DOM tree of the obtained web document.

  Further, the browsing computer further functions as a node replacement unit by executing the plug-in program in an environment in which the browser program is executed.

  Here, if the element node including the position specified in the received position instruction input is one of the query element nodes, the node replacement unit is for embedding in the web service device for the query element node. The element node is inserted at the position of the inquiry element node, and the inquiry element node is hidden or deleted, thereby replacing the inquiry element node with the embedding element node.

  Moreover, the browsing system of this invention can be comprised as follows.

  That is, in the introduction device, the service selection unit calculates the fitness of the web service device based on the character code of the web document in which the text is included and the appearance frequency of the character included in the text.

  In the browsing system of the present invention, the browsing computer further functions as a report transmission unit by executing the plug-in program in an environment in which the browser program is executed.

  Here, when the node replacement unit replaces the inquiry element node with the embedding node, the report transmission unit notifies that the web service device web service request has been made for the replaced inquiry element node. A request report that designates "."

  On the other hand, the introduction device further functions as a report receiving unit and a frequency accumulating unit.

  Here, the report receiving unit receives a request report designating that a web service request of the web service device has been made.

  On the other hand, the number accumulation unit accumulates the number of times each of the plurality of web service devices is designated in the received request report.

  Further, the service selection unit calculates the fitness of the web service device based on the accumulated number of times.

  Further, in the browsing system of the present invention, the report transmission unit accumulates the fact every time the web service request is made, and indicates that the web service request is made based on the accumulated information in the introduction request. By sending the request report, the report receiver receives the web service request specified in the referral request every time the referral request receiver receives the referral request. A report can be configured to be received.

  In addition, when the user selects a bookmarklet registered by the user in the browser program after the web document is displayed, the bookmarklet program introduces the browsing computer. It can be configured to function to load and execute the plug-in program from the device.

  A program according to another aspect of the present invention is a plug-in program to be executed by a browsing computer in an environment in which the browser program is executed in the browsing system.

  A program according to another aspect of the present invention is an introduction program that causes an introduction computer to function as each part of the introduction device of the browsing system.

  The program of the present invention can be recorded on a computer-readable information recording medium such as a compact disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, digital video disk, magnetic tape, and semiconductor memory.

  The above program can be distributed and sold via a computer communication network independently of the computer on which the program is executed. The information recording medium can be distributed and sold independently of the computer.

  According to the present invention, a browsing system suitable for facilitating application of a web service desired by a user to text included in a web document being browsed by a browser, and for facilitating the user to confirm the result, It is possible to provide a plug-in program to be executed by the browser and an introduction program for realizing an introduction device that cooperates with the plug-in program.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In the following, for ease of understanding, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a general information processing apparatus will be described. However, the present invention is similarly applied to information processing apparatuses such as various game apparatuses, PDAs, and mobile phones. Can be applied. That is, the embodiment described below is for explanation, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, those skilled in the art can employ embodiments in which each or all of these elements are replaced with equivalent ones, and these embodiments are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a typical information processing apparatus in which a web service device, an introduction device, and a browsing computer according to one embodiment of the browsing system of the present invention are realized. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  The information processing apparatus 101 is controlled by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 102. When the information processing apparatus 101 is turned on, the CPU 102 executes an IPL (Initial Program Loader) stored in the ROM 103.

  The IPL reads out an OS (Operating System) program stored in a recording medium such as a hard disk 104, an FD attached to the FD drive 110, or a CD-ROM attached to a CD-ROM drive (CDD) 111. Program to be executed.

  After starting the OS, the CPU 102 executes an application program stored in the hard disk or the like in accordance with a user instruction input from the keyboard 105 or the mouse 106 or in accordance with the contents of a setting file described in advance on the hard disk or the like. Execute.

  Here, in the server computer constituting the web service device and the introduction device in the present embodiment, the server program corresponds to an application program, and in the browsing device computer, a browser program and a plug-in that adds functions of the browser program are included. The program corresponds to an application program.

  Various information is input by operating the keyboard 105, the mouse 106, and the like. Various types of information are recorded on storage media such as the hard disk 104, the FD mounted on the FD drive 110, and the CD-ROM mounted on the CD-ROM drive 111.

  The CPU 102 uses the RAM 107 as a temporary work storage area when executing the program. In addition, a register or a cache (not shown) provided in the CPU 102 is used as a temporary working storage area.

  As the program is executed, the CPU 102 can display the information on a display device 108 such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) in order to show the progress. In the instruction operation using the mouse 106, the cursor displayed on the screen is moved by moving the mouse 106, and the menu item pointed to by the cursor can be selected by clicking the mouse 106.

  The information processing apparatus 101 can communicate with a computer communication network such as the Internet via an interface 109 such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) or a modem. A stroke input received via the interface 109 can be processed, an output character can be transmitted via the interface 109, a program received via the interface 109 can be executed, and the like.

  Under a situation where a general browser program is operating on the browsing computer, when a web document is displayed on the screen, an anchor for another web document is displayed on the screen.

  In the default operation of the browser program, that is, the operation when the plug-in program is not introduced, when the user performs a single click on the anchor using the mouse 106, the web document arranged at the anchor URL in the Internet is acquired. Then, a DOM tree of the acquired web document is constructed in the RAM 107, and the contents of the web document are displayed on the screen according to the DOM tree.

  Here, an anchor for another web document is expressed by an anchor element, that is, an a element in which the URL of the web document is specified in the href attribute, and is sandwiched between a start tag and an end tag of the a element on the screen. Text is displayed, and the linked web document is displayed on the screen by clicking the text with the mouse.

  Hereinafter, by repeating this process, the user can browse one after another web documents connected by anchors that specify URLs.

  When a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone is used as a browsing computer, if the displayed web document is scrolled up and down with the arrow keys, the anchors are highlighted in sequence, indicating that the user is currently paying attention. When presented to the user and the user presses the enter key while the desired anchor is highlighted, acquisition of the web document for that anchor is started.

  In the following, for ease of understanding, an operation system using the mouse 106 will be mainly described. However, the present embodiment does not necessarily require the mouse 106, and is applied to browsers for browsing web documents in general. Is possible.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a browsing computer executing a browser program. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  That is, the browsing computer 201 functions as the URL reception unit 202, the document acquisition unit 203, and the display unit 204 by executing a browser program.

  Here, the URL receiving unit 202 receives a URL instruction input for specifying a URL (Universal Resource Locator). For example, the URL instruction input is generated by clicking an anchor using the mouse 106.

  On the other hand, the document acquisition unit 203 acquires a web document placed at the URL specified in the received instruction input. That is, a web document is acquired via the interface 109 under the control of the CPU 101.

  Furthermore, the display unit 204 draws and displays the web document on the screen based on the DOM (Document Object Model) tree of the acquired web document. The acquired DOM tree of the web document is expanded in the RAM 107, and the content of the web document is displayed on the display device 108 according to the DOM tree.

  In an environment in which such a browser program operates, a script written in a programming language such as JavaScript, JScript, or ECMAScript can be executed. The plug-in program in the present embodiment is realized by such a script, and is executed when a web document is displayed.

  There are the following methods for specifying a plug-in program. That is, there are a method of embedding directly in a web document, a method of embedding a URL where a plug-in program is arranged in a web document, and the like.

  In addition, the plug-in program can be executed on the displayed web document by selecting the bookmarklet while the web document is already displayed on the screen.

  Here, the bookmarklet means a program fragment written in JavaScript or the like registered in a link collection such as a user's “favorite”. The program fragment describes that a plug-in program is loaded from a predetermined URL and the currently displayed web document is processed.

  The bookmarklet can be executed by selecting a menu provided in the browser or clicking a button on the toolbar.

  A function corresponding to a bookmarklet can be incorporated in a browser program in advance. In this case, the plug-in program corresponds to a library function executed by the browser program. If the plug-in program is a library that can be dynamically linked, the two can be separated, but statically In the case of a linked library, the plug-in program is configured integrally with the browser program. In this case, every time a web document is acquired, the same processing as that performed by a predetermined bookmarklet may be automatically executed.

  In the following, in order to facilitate understanding, a web service device and an introduction device will be described first, and then a browsing computer in which a plug-in program operates in an environment in which a browser program operates will be described.

(Web service device)
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a web service apparatus included in the browsing system of the present embodiment. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  The web service device 301 of this embodiment includes a service request receiving unit 302, a service processing unit 303, and a service response transmitting unit 304.

  Here, the service request receiving unit 302 receives a web service request designating processing target data.

  The Web service request typically uses a GET method or POST method based on the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) protocol, or a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) protocol based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language) / HTTP. Is.

For example, a web service request designating text “text” as processing target data is realized as a web document acquisition request for a URL as in the following example in the case of the GET method.
http://xxx.yyy.com/query.cgi?q=text

  Here, “xxx.yyy.com” is a host name associated with an IP (Internet Protocol) address assigned to the web service device, and “query.cgi” is the name of a CGI script that executes the web service. It is. “Q = text” means that “text” is passed as the parameter value of the parameter name “q”.

  In this way, when a web service request is specified, the service processing unit 303 performs predetermined web service processing on the processing target data specified in the received web service request.

  In the above example, when the search engine is a web service, a document including “text” is searched, and a web document including an anchor to the document is generated as processing result data.

  When the English-Japanese translation is used as a web service, the translation result for "text" is a web document that contains the translation result, such as "1. Document, character string, 2. Text, original text, 3. Textbook." Is generated as processing result data.

  On the other hand, when Japanese-English translation is used as a web service, translation for "text" is not possible. Accordingly, a web document indicating that translation cannot be performed is generated as processing result data. However, it is possible to prevent such a web service request from being generated as much as possible by an introduction device described later.

  In addition, there is no place name that matches "text" in the case of a map search, but "Tex." "" Is given as a candidate, and a web document including an image of the Texas map with the highest likelihood is generated as processing result data.

  When a product search is performed, a web document that introduces a product related to “text” (for example, a book or DVD including the text string “text” in the title) is generated as processing result data.

  The service response transmission unit 304 transmits a web service response designating the processing result data obtained by performing the predetermined process obtained in this manner to the transmission source of the web service request.

  Therefore, any web server can accept a web service request specifying a URL and return the web document as a web service response. In this embodiment, the web service device One unit may be used, or a plurality of units may be used.

  When there are a plurality of web service devices, each web service device is generally operated by a different web service company. In the present embodiment, when a user receives such different web services from different management sources, the present embodiment is intended to present the user with an easy-to-understand with a unified interface.

(Introduction device)
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of the introduction device according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  As described above, prior to receiving the web service, the introduction device determines whether the processing target data is suitable for receiving the web service, and introduces the web service that can receive the processing target data in advance. To do.

  The introduction device 401 according to the present embodiment includes an introduction request reception unit 402, a service selection unit 403, and an introduction response transmission unit 404. In addition, as will be described in an embodiment described later, a report receiving unit 405 and a frequency accumulating unit 406 may be provided.

  Here, the introduction request receiving unit 402 receives an introduction request designating a text. The text specified in the introduction request is generally the same as the text specified in the web service request (corresponding to “text” in the above example).

  On the other hand, the service selection unit 403 selects a web service device 301 that can process the text specified in the received introduction request from the plurality of web service devices 301.

  Currently, various web services are provided by each company. In the introduction device 401, various existing web services are centrally managed, and it is determined whether each web service is applicable to the text. Choose what is possible.

  In the above example, since the text specified in the introduction request is “text”, a search engine, English-Japanese translation, product search, and map search are applicable, and a web service device that provides these web services Is the target of selection. On the other hand, Japanese-English translation is not applicable because it cannot be applied.

Whether or not the web service can be applied to the text can be determined by various criteria as follows.
(1) Select only the web service set in advance by the user operating the browsing computer that sent the introduction request. For example, when only the English-Japanese translation is to be used, if the user sets that fact, the service selection unit of the introduction device 401 selects one web service device 301 that provides the English-Japanese translation. become.
(2) Judgment is made based on the character code and the appearance frequency of the character expressing the text. As will be described later, the text specified in the introduction request is generally extracted from a web document currently being browsed by the user. Therefore, based on the character code (for example, ASCII code or Shift_JIS code) describing the web document being browsed, whether English-Japanese translation or Japanese-English translation is applicable, etc. Can be requested.

In addition, when the text extracted from the web document is converted into a predetermined character code such as UNICODE and specified in the introduction request, only English characters can be used based on the appearance frequency of the characters included in the text. English-Japanese translation is possible, hiragana, katakana, Japanese-English translation is possible if kanji is included, and so on.
(3) The degree of conformity of the web service is determined based on the past service usage history of the user. The more frequently web services used in the past, the more likely they are to be selected.
(4) The above criteria (1) to (3) are appropriately combined. For example, this is a method of obtaining a score by multiplying each of the above results (1) to (3) by a predetermined coefficient and accumulating, and making a determination based on whether the score is higher than a threshold value. Details will be described later.

  In the following, for ease of understanding, it is assumed that only one web service device 301 is selected unless otherwise specified.

  Furthermore, the introduction response transmission unit 404 transmits an introduction response designating the selected web service device 301 to the transmission source of the introduction request.

In the introduction response, as a method for designating the selected web service device 301, an inquiry URL or an XML template is typically designated in the introduction response. For example, when the web service specified by the above URL is selected, the following character string is included in the introduction response:
http://xxx.yyy.com/query.cgi?q=text
Or the following string:
http://xxx.yyy.com/query.cgi?q=
Is specified.

  In the former case, the browsing computer can receive the web service if the character string is used as it is, and when the length of “text” is short or only a part of the text specified in the introduction request It is suitable for extracting web and receiving web services. When the character codes that can be processed by the web service are limited, the introduction device 401 converts the designated text into the character code for the web service and designates it in the character string. There is an advantage that various character code conversions are unnecessary on the computer side.

  In the latter case, the browsing computer will connect the extracted text to the character string specified in the referral response and receive the web service, which is suitable when the text is long. ing.

  As a variation of the latter, in the character string specified in the introduction response, the place where the extracted text is embedded is indicated by a specific reserved character string, and on the viewing computer side, the character specified in the introduction response There may be a method of receiving a web service after replacing a reserved character string in a column with extracted text. This method is suitable for a protocol that performs communication using a nested structure such as an XML format.

  For the transmission / reception of the introduction request / introduction response, the GET / POST method of the HTTP protocol, the SOAP protocol, or the like can be applied, similarly to the transmission / reception of the web service request / web service response.

  The introduction device 401 may select one of a plurality of web services, or may select any of a plurality of web services. In the latter case, the degree of suitability (a value corresponding to the “score” described above) that estimates which web service is desired by the user is obtained for each service.

  Therefore, the degree of conformity of each web service may be specified in the introduction response and used on the browsing computer. Such an embodiment will be described later.

(Browsing computer)
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a browsing computer that executes a plug-in program in an environment in which the browser program is executed. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when a user selects a bookmarklet in a state where a web document is displayed on the display unit 204, a plug-in program is downloaded from the introduction device 401, and the currently displayed web document is displayed. A plug-in program is executed as a processing target.

  In addition to the elements shown in FIG. 2, the browsing computer 201 shown in FIG. Function.

  Here, the position receiving unit 501 receives a position instruction input for specifying the position of the displayed web document in the document.

  In other words, the position receiving unit 501 acquires where the mouse 106 clicked on the web document displayed on the screen of the display device 107, and is considered to hook the processing of the URL receiving unit 202. it can.

  On the other hand, the text acquisition unit 502 acquires the text displayed at the position specified by the received position instruction input in the DOM tree of the displayed web document.

  The text acquisition unit 502 typically acquires text (of a child node of the element node) surrounded by the clicked element node.

  Furthermore, the introduction request transmission unit 503 transmits an introduction request designating the acquired text to the introduction device 401, and the introduction response reception unit 504 receives the introduction response transmitted from the introduction device 401.

  Typically, JavaScript XMLHttpRequest function is used for this processing.

  On the other hand, the element insertion unit 505 is transmitted from the web service device 301 by transmitting a web service request designating the acquired text as processing target data to the web service device 301 designated in the received introduction response. The element node for embedding in which the processing result data specified in the web service response to be embedded is to be inserted in the vicinity of the acquired text in the DOM tree of the displayed web document.

  When the plug-in program loaded on the browsing computer 201 is executed, the following processing is executed in order to realize the processing of these units.

(A) First, element nodes corresponding to a predetermined tag are sequentially extracted from element nodes constituting the DOM tree of the web document. In JavaScript, if you specify a tag name for the document.getElementsByTagName () instruction, an array of element nodes is obtained. By accessing this array in order, the object of “element node corresponding to a given tag” Is obtained.

  Predetermined tags include p for paragraphs, a for anchors to URLs of other web documents, div, span, em, strike, b, s, u, i, h1, h2, h3, h4 , H5, h6, td, li, dd, dt, etc., tags that surround a certain amount of text are typically employed. Which tag is used can be changed as appropriate.

(B) Then, a predetermined JavaScript procedure is set as an event handler in the onclick attribute of the extracted object of each element node. Thereby, the position where the position receiving unit 501 clicked the web document can be acquired. An example of specific event handler procedure contents is as follows. Hereinafter, an element node whose event handler procedure is set to the .onclick attribute is referred to as a “target element node”.

    (1) First, text nodes that are descendants of the element element of interest are connected to obtain text surrounded by the element node. For example, the text is obtained by concatenating the .nodeValue attribute of the nodes enumerated by the .childNodes attribute of the element of interest node. If necessary, the text is converted into a predetermined character code. Typically, UNICODE (UTF-8) is used as the character code of the conversion destination. This process corresponds to the process executed by the text acquisition unit 502.

    (2) Further, an introduction request packet for designating the text of the converted text and, if necessary, the type of character code in which the original web document is created, is generated, and is sent to a predetermined introduction device 401. Send. This can be realized by using the XMLHttpRequest object, and corresponds to the processing executed by the introduction request transmission unit 503.

    (3) Then, an introduction response is received in response to the transmitted introduction request packet, and the URL of the web service device 301 specified in the introduction response is acquired. That is, the .responseText attribute included in the above XMLHttpRequest object is examined. This corresponds to the processing executed by the introduction response receiving unit 504.

    (4) If a URL for receiving a web service is specified in the introduction response, an inline frame element node including an iframe tag that specifies the URL of the web service for the text as a reference destination is used as an embedding element node. Generate as Further, this embedding element node is added in the vicinity of the target element node. A typical neighborhood is an element node at the end of a child or the element node next to the element element of interest. However, the appearance may be arranged so that it is easy to see by inserting a br element or the like as appropriate. These processes can be realized by appropriately referring to the .parentNode attribute or using the .appendChild () method, and corresponds to the process executed by the element insertion unit 505.

    (5) Finally, the event handler procedure is deleted from the .onclick attribute of the element node and its descendants. After that, even if the element node is clicked, the inquiry to the introduction device 401 does not occur, and the default event handler of the browser program is executed. For example, when the a element is an extraction target, when the text of the a element node is clicked for the first time, an inquiry to the introduction device 401 or insertion of an inline frame element is executed. , It is processed as a designation input for browsing the web document referenced by the a element.

  The processes (A) and (B) are executed by selecting a bookmarklet at the stage where the web document to be processed is displayed by the browser program. The event handlers (1) to (5) The process itself is not executed until the user clicks on the element node.

  Therefore, the browser program does not require screen redrawing. Therefore, even if the bookmarklet is selected and the plug-in program is executed, the waiting time of the user at that time can be extremely short.

  Only when the user clicks on an element node, a new element node (inline frame element) is inserted into the DOM tree of the currently displayed web document, and communication with the web service device 301 and redrawing of the screen are performed. Executed.

  That is, the display control unit 506 inserts an element node into the DOM tree of the displayed web document, or receives a web service response, and the processing result data specified in the web service response is stored in the embedding element node. When embedded, the changed web document is redrawn on the display unit and displayed on the screen.

  The function of the display control unit 506 typically uses the redrawing function provided by the browser program as it is. However, if the JavaScript function is used, various processes are executed at the time of redrawing. Is also possible.

  By setting the event handler as in (B) and (5) above, the text acquisition unit 502 can select a predetermined type of element from among the element nodes including the position specified in the received position instruction input. The node, which is the smallest element node, is searched from the DOM tree of the displayed web document, and the event specified by the .onclick attribute is executed.

  Therefore, if the text of a text node that is a descendant of the searched minimum element node has not been acquired, the text is used as the acquired text, and an inquiry to the introduction device 401 or insertion of an inline frame is performed. Executed.

  On the other hand, if the event handler has been acquired in the past, the setting of the event handler has been canceled, so that the text could not be acquired, and the inquiry to the introduction device 401 and the insertion of the inline frame are not executed.

  In the above description, the inline frame element is inserted, but the object element or script element node describing the event handler process corresponding to the above (1) to (5) is the embedding element. It can also be used as a node. When an object element or a script element is adopted, a process for displaying that the web service is waiting for a reply may be added without relying on a browser program.

  Hereinafter, an example in which an inline frame element using an iframe is adopted as a representative example of these elements will be described.

  Furthermore, if the event handler that changes the appearance (font, display color, background color, etc.) for displaying the element node is appropriately set in the .onfocus attribute or the .onblur attribute of the element element of interest, it is displayed. The user can easily know whether or not the web service can be received for the text in the existing web document.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of communication in the browsing system of the present embodiment. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  When the browser program is executed in the browsing computer 201 and the user designates a URL, a web document request is made to the web server 551 (601), and the web document is obtained from the web server 551 that provides the URL (602). The obtained web document is displayed on the screen.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the screen at this point of the browsing computer of the present embodiment.

  As shown in this figure, the URL of the web server 551 is input and displayed in the address bar 702 of the browser 701, and the obtained web document is displayed in the document display area 703. In addition, a button 704 for executing a bookmarklet is also displayed on the toolbar of the browser 701.

  When the user moves the mouse cursor 705 to select the button 704 and executes the bookmarklet, the browsing computer 201 requests the plug-in program from the introduction device 401 (603), downloads it (604), and displays it. The plug-in program is executed for the web document.

  When the plug-in program is already cached in the browsing computer 201, the cached plug-in program may be executed as it is without executing the download request (603) and the response (604). .

  When the plug-in program is executed, the .onclick, .onfocus, and .onblur attributes of a predetermined element node are changed.

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the screen at this point of the browsing computer of the present embodiment. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  Compared with the display example shown in FIG. 7, the text 706 “This is a pen” in the vicinity of the mouse cursor 705 is shown in the example in this figure, even though the position of the mouse cursor 705 is the same. It can be seen that the background color of “.” Changes and is highlighted. This is because the .onfocus attribute and .onblur attribute are rewritten by executing the bookmarklet.

  When the user clicks the mouse 106, the .onclick event handler is activated for the element node surrounding the highlighted text 706, and the processes (1) to (5) are executed.

  That is, an introduction request is transmitted from the browsing computer 201 to the introduction device 401 (605), and an introduction response is transmitted from the introduction device 401 to the browsing computer 201 (606).

  Then, the browsing computer 201 generates an embedding element node based on the URL specified in the introduction response and inserts it in the vicinity of the clicked text.

  With this insertion, the browser program starts redrawing. When drawing the embedding element node, the web service request for designating the text corresponding to “This is a pen.” Is sent to the web service device 301. It is transmitted (607).

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of the screen at this point of the browsing computer of the present embodiment.

  As shown in the figure, an inline frame 707 is displayed in the vicinity of the text 706, and it is displayed that the browser program function is waiting for a response to the web service request (in the browser program). Depending on the type, nothing may be displayed.

  When the browsing computer 201 receives the web service response (608) transmitted from the web service device 301, the content of the web service response is displayed in the inline frame 707.

  When a bookmarklet is activated while a certain web document is displayed, the domain associated with the script program loaded by the bookmarklet is not the domain of the introduction device 401, but the web server that provides the web document being displayed 551 domain.

  Then, depending on the setting of the browser, communication may be impossible due to cross-domain restriction even if an attempt is made to communicate with the introduction device 401 from the script program by directly using XMLHttpRequest.

  In such a case, it is possible to enable communication between the script program and the introducing device 401 by using a technology that uses a file by AdobeHttp (trademark) or "Macromedia Flash" (trademark) from XMLHttpRequest. .

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the screen at this point of the browsing computer of the present embodiment.

  As shown in the figure, the inline frame 707 displays “This is a pen.” Which is the result of the English-Japanese translation of the text 706 “This is a pen.”.

  As described above, in the technology of the present embodiment, the user can receive an appropriate web service only by inputting an instruction for a desired portion of the web document being browsed by the user, and the result is It is inserted and displayed near the location.

  For this reason, unlike the pop-up display that may hide the spot of interest, the spot of interest and the result of the web service are displayed side by side in the display screen of the browser. Therefore, the user can easily compare and understand the two contents.

  Further, according to the present technology, since an inquiry to a web service is performed according to a user's request, unnecessary network communication does not occur, and a light operation can be realized.

  In the above example, the web service introduced by the introduction device 401 is limited to one type. In the following, let us consider the case where a plurality of web services are introduced.

  When there are a plurality of applicable web services for the text specified in the introduction request transmitted from the browsing computer 201, the introduction device 401 calculates the order of suitability of these web services by using some method. Put on. In addition to the above-described method, various techniques such as a method in which the user decides the order in advance and registers the information in the introduction device 401, and a method in an embodiment described later can be employed for the degree of fitness.

  As described above, when a plurality of web services are selected, the web service with the first matching level and the web services with the second or lower ranking are designated in the introduction response.

Then, the browsing computer 201 employs the following collection of element nodes as embedding element nodes.
(1) An inline frame element node consisting of an iframe tag that designates the URL of the web service for the text as a reference destination for the web service with the highest degree of matching.
(2) For each web service that has a second or lower fitness, specify a service request event handler in the .onclick attribute, and use a div element or span that uses the name of the web service as the node value text. Service request element node by element etc.

  For the text 706 “This is a pen.” In the above example, applicable web services are “English-Japanese translation”, “English-French translation”, “product pen search”, and “word pen web search”. Suppose there are types and the degree of fitness is in this order.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the browsing computer screen immediately after the embedding element node in the present embodiment is inserted into the DOM tree. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  In the inline frame 707 displayed in the vicinity of the text 706, a message indicating that the browser program is waiting for a response to a web service request of “English-Japanese translation” having the highest fitness level is displayed.

  In addition, a clickable text 708 “English-French translation” text 709 “product pen search” text 710 “word pen web search” is displayed in the vicinity of the text 706.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example of the screen after the inquiry about the inline frame included in the embedding element node is completed. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  In the inline frame 707 displayed in the vicinity of the text 706, the result of the English-Japanese translation with the first best fit is displayed.

Now, when the service request event handler activated when the text 708 “English-French translation” text 709 “product pen search” text 710 “word pen web search” or the like is clicked,
(1) Generate an inline frame element node including an iframe tag that designates the URL of the web service as a reference destination.
(2) Insert the element into the DOM tree so that the activated service request event handler hides or deletes the element node specified in the .onclick attribute and displays the inline frame element node instead. Node replacement,
Perform the process. This process corresponds to a process performed by a node replacement unit (not shown) by controlling the element insertion unit 505 and the display control unit 506.

  FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a screen immediately after the text 708 “English-French translation” is clicked. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  In this figure, the text 708 “English-French translation” that has been displayed up to the previous figure is hidden and replaced with it, and an inline frame 711 is displayed. In the message, it is displayed that the response to the web service request of the clicked “English-French translation” is waiting.

  FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the screen after the inquiry for the clicked web service request is completed. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

  In the inline frame 711, “This is a pen.” And “C'est un stylo.”, Which are the results of “English-French translation”, are displayed.

  In addition, when a text 709 “search for a product pen” or a text 710 “web search for a word pen” is clicked, an inline frame is displayed instead of the text, and the web service is displayed in the inline frame. The query result is displayed.

  According to the present embodiment, when a plurality of web services can be applied, a web service necessary for the user can be quickly provided by an operation as simple as possible. In the following embodiment, one method for obtaining the conformity of a web service will be described.

  In the present embodiment, as in the above-described example, in the introduction device 401, the service selection unit 403 calculates the fitness for the texts specified in the received introduction requests of the plurality of web service devices 301, and When the web service device 301 having a fitness level equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold is selected and a plurality of web service devices 301 are selected, the introduction response transmission unit 404 calculates the fitness calculated for the selected web service device 301. This is applied when the order of degrees is further specified in the introduction response.

At this time, when the service request event handler is activated, in addition to the processes (1) and (2) in the above embodiment,
(3) A process of reporting to the introduction device 401 that the web service request has been made is executed.

  This process (3) corresponds to a process executed by a report transmission unit (not shown). Typically, this report also specifies information identifying the user who is using the viewing computer.

  In the introducing device 401, when the report receiving unit 405 receives the report, the number accumulating unit 406 accumulates and records the number of times each web service device 301 is used by the user actively selecting. That is, the number of times of using the web service device 301 specified in the report is increased by receiving the report.

  Furthermore, when calculating the suitability of each web service for a future introduction request, the service selection unit 403 obtains the suitability based on the accumulated number of times. Specifically, the past total number may be used, or the fitness level of the web service that has been used most recently may be increased.

  In addition, when the use of a web service with the second highest conformance is reported, it is possible to adjust the web service with the first highest conformance to have a lower fitness.

  This calculation of the fitness level corresponds to the introduction device 401 “learning” what kind of web service each user selects for what kind of text. Therefore, for this “learning”, it is possible to apply an algorithm similar to that for learning kana-kanji conversion in natural language processing.

  For example, by using “learning” in combination with information such as the character code used in the description of the original web document and the appearance frequency of characters appearing in the text, instead of using only the accumulated usage count, It is considered that the order of the web service desired by the user can be appropriately estimated.

  In the above process (3), every time a web service is requested, that fact is reported to the introduction device 401, but this can be changed as follows. That is, every time a web service is requested, the requested web service type is additionally registered in an array variable of JavaScript.

  Then, when the introduction request is transmitted next time, the contents of the array variable are also transmitted after being placed in the introduction request packet, and the array variable is cleared.

  On the other hand, when the introduction device 401 receives an introduction request, the contents of the array variable are extracted and the number of requests is integrated.

  In this aspect, the report transmission unit transmits a report using the introduction request transmission unit 503, and the report reception unit 404 receives the report using the introduction request reception unit 401. The number of communication with the introduction device 401 can be reduced.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is easy to apply the web service desired by the user to the text included in the web document being browsed by the browser, and it is preferable for the user to easily confirm the result. In addition, it is possible to provide a browsing system, a plug-in program executed by the browser, and an introduction program for realizing an introduction device that cooperates with the plug-in program.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a typical information processing apparatus in which a web service device, an introduction device, and a browsing computer according to one embodiment of a browsing system of the present invention are realized. It is a schematic diagram which shows the general | schematic structure of the browsing computer which performs a browser program. It is a schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of the web service apparatus which the browsing system of this embodiment has. It is a mimetic diagram showing the outline composition of the introduction device concerning this embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the general | schematic structure of the browsing computer which performs a plug-in program in the environment which is executing the browser program. It is explanatory drawing which shows the mode of communication in the browsing system of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display of the screen of the computer for browsing of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

101 Information processing apparatus 102 CPU
103 ROM
104 HD
105 Keyboard 106 Mouse 107 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 108 Display apparatus 109 Interface 110 FD drive 111 CD-ROM drive 201 Browsing computer 202 URL reception part 203 Document acquisition part 204 Display part 301 Web service apparatus 302 Service request reception part 303 Service processing part 304 Service response transmission part 401 Introduction apparatus 402 Referral request reception unit 403 Service selection unit 404 Referral response transmission unit 405 Report reception unit 406 Count accumulation unit 501 Position reception unit 502 Text acquisition unit 503 Referral request transmission unit 504 Referral response reception unit 505 Element insertion unit 506 Display control unit 551 Web server 701 Browser 702 Address bar 703 Document display area 704 Button 705 Mouse cursor 706 Text to be processed 707 Inline frame 708 Clickable Text 709 clickable text 710 clickable text 711-line frame

Claims (10)

A browsing system having a browsing computer and a plurality of web service devices,
(A) The browsing computer executes a browser program,
A URL receiving unit for receiving a URL instruction input for specifying a URL (Universal Resource Locator);
A document acquisition unit for acquiring a web document arranged at a URL specified in the received instruction input;
Based on the DOM (Document Object Model) tree of the acquired web document, it functions as a display unit that draws and displays the web document on a screen;
(B) Each of the plurality of web service devices
A service request receiving unit for receiving a web service request specifying processing target data;
A service processing unit that performs predetermined web service processing on the processing target data specified in the received web service request;
In a browsing system including a service response transmission unit that transmits a web service response specifying processing result data obtained by performing the predetermined process to a transmission source of the web service request,
The browsing system further includes an introduction device,
(C) The introduction device
An introduction request receiver for receiving an introduction request specifying a text;
A service selection unit that selects, from the plurality of web service devices, a web service device that can process the text specified in the received introduction request;
An introduction response transmission unit that transmits an introduction response designating the selected web service device to a transmission source of the introduction request;
(D) The browsing computer executes the plug-in program in the environment where the browser program is executed,
A position receiving unit that receives a position instruction input for specifying a position in the document of the displayed web document;
A text acquisition unit that acquires text displayed at a position specified by the received position instruction input in the DOM tree of the displayed web document;
An introduction request transmitting unit for transmitting an introduction request designating the acquired text to the introduction device;
An introduction response receiver for receiving an introduction response transmitted from the introduction device;
When the introduction response is received,
(1) An embedding element node associated with any one of the web service devices specified in the introduction response, and transmitting a web service request specifying the acquired text as processing target data An embedding element node in which processing result data specified in the web service response transmitted from the web service device is to be embedded ,
(2) An inquiry element node associated with each of the other web service devices specified in the introduction response, and the inquiry element node is displayed at a position specified in the received position instruction input. If it is specified in the web service response transmitted from the web service device by transmitting a web service request designating the acquired text as processing target data to the web service device associated with the inquiry element node Query element node in which processing result data to be embedded is to be embedded,
Is inserted in the vicinity of the acquired text in the DOM tree of the displayed web document,
An element node is inserted into the DOM tree of the displayed web document, or a web service response is received, and processing result data specified in the web service response is embedded in an embedding element node or a service request element node. And a display control unit for causing the display unit to redraw the changed web document and display it on the screen. The browsing system according to claim 1,
The text acquisition unit is an element node of a predetermined type among the element nodes including the position specified in the received position instruction input, and the minimum element node of the displayed web document When searching from the DOM tree and the text of the text node that is a descendant of the searched minimum element node is not acquired (1), the text is set as the acquired text.
(2) If it has been acquired in the past, it is assumed that the text could not be acquired,
The browsing system, wherein the element insertion unit uses an inline frame element, an object element, or a node of a script element as the embedding element node. The browsing system according to claim 2,
The predetermined type of element node includes an anchor element node,
When the acquired minimum element node is an anchor element node, if the text of a text node that is a descendant of the anchor element node has already been acquired in the past, the URL reception unit sets the anchor element node to the anchor element node. A browsing system that accepts a designated URL as designated by a URL instruction input. The browsing system according to claim 1,
In the introduction device, the service selection unit calculates a degree of conformity with respect to the text specified in the received introduction request of the plurality of web service devices, and the degree of conformance is a predetermined threshold or more. When a plurality of web service devices are selected, the introduction response transmission unit further designates the order of fitness calculated for the selected web service device as an introduction response,
In the browsing computer that executes the plug-in program in an environment in which the browser program is executed, the element insertion unit, when a plurality of web service devices are specified in the received introduction response,
(1) A web service device having the maximum matching level is associated with the embedding element node,
(2) Each of the inquiry element nodes is associated with each of the web service devices having the second and lower matching degrees,
When the browser computer executes the plug-in program in an environment in which the browser program is executed, the element node including the position specified in the received position instruction input is changed to the inquiry element node. In either case, the element node for embedding in the web service device for the inquiry element node is inserted at the position of the inquiry element node, and the inquiry element node is hidden or deleted. A browsing system that further functions as a node replacement unit that replaces an inquiry element node with the embedding element node. The browsing system according to claim 4,
In the introduction device, the service selection unit calculates the adaptability of the web service device based on the character code of the web document in which the text is included and the appearance frequency of the character included in the text. A browsing system. The browsing system according to claim 4 or 5,
When the browser computer executes the plug-in program in the environment in which the browser program is executed, the node replacement unit replaces the query element node with the embedding node. A request report that specifies that a web service request of the web service device for the replaced inquiry element node has been made, further functions as a report transmission unit that transmits to the introduction device;
The introduction device is
A report receiving unit for receiving a request report designating that a web service request of the web service device has been made;
Each of the plurality of web service devices further includes a number accumulating unit that accumulates the number of times specified in the received request report,
The browsing system according to claim 1, wherein the service selection unit calculates the fitness of the web service device based on the accumulated number of times. The browsing system according to claim 6,
The report transmitting unit accumulates the request every time the web service request is made, and specifies that the web service request is made based on the accumulated information in the introduction request. Send
The report receiving unit receives the request report by acquiring the web service request specified in the introduction request every time the introduction request receiving unit receives the introduction request. system. The browsing system according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
When the user selects a bookmarklet registered in the browser program after the web document is displayed, the bookmarklet program loads the browsing computer and the plug-in program from the introduction device. A browsing system characterized in that it functions so as to be executed.   A plug-in program executed by the browsing computer of the browsing system according to claim 1.   An introduction program for causing an introduction computer to function as each part of the browsing system introduction device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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